January was a big month for major new game releases, and several of them have debuted high in the latest monthly charts for video game software sales in the US, released by Circana (formerly the NPD Group). Shared by Circana analyst Mat Piscatella on Twitter, though Call of Duty: Modern Warfare topped the software sales for Japan, it’s accompanied by a number of newly released titles.
Highest among them is Tekken 8, debuting at No. 2, with Piscatella stating that the fighting game growth over Tekken 7 in terms of both unit and dollar sales at launch. Meanwhile, with the tracking period for the charts running up to February 3, a couple of major early February releases also rank high, with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Persona 3 coming in at No. 3 and No. 4 respectively.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which launched towards the end of January, has debuted in seventh place, while Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, which released earlier in the month, enters the charts at No. 13.
Of course, beyond traditional sales, it’s fair to say that the biggest release of the month turned out to be Palworld, much to the surprise of many. According to Piscatella, the game topped charts for monthly active users on Steam in the US for January, and ranked No. 3 on Xbox, coming in behind Fortnite and Call of Duty.
On the hardware side of things, the PS5 was once again the best-selling console of the month in terms of both unit and dollar sales, with Nintendo Switch coming in second for unit sales, and Xbox Series X/S for dollar sales. Interestingly, PS5’s sales in the US in its first 39 months are tracking ahead of PS4’s by 7%, and ahead of PS3 by 68%.
January 2024 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from digital data sharing publishers, excludes add-on content) pic.twitter.com/SqRNkwI4KJ
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) February 23, 2024
Palworld was January’s biggest new release story, ranking 1st in monthly active users on Steam in the US during January according to Circana’s Player Engagement Tracker, while placing 3rd on Xbox platforms behind only Fortnite and Call of Duty HQ.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) February 23, 2024
Other new releases ranking among the top 20 tracked titles included Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (#3), P3: Persona 3: Reload (#4), Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (#7), Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (#13) and Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash (#19).
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) February 23, 2024
With 39 months in market, life-to-date unit sales of PlayStation 5 are now tracking 7% ahead of PlayStation 4’s pace, and 68% above that of PlayStation 3.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) February 23, 2024
